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Two Former New York Knicks Thriving with Their New Teams

February 7th, 2013 at 3:29 PM By Matt Agne

It wasn't all that long ago that Nate Robinson and David Lee were two of the most beloved members of losing New York Knicks squads playing nightly at Madison Square Garden. While the teams were less than productive Robinson gave a spark off the bench and brought excitement to the crowd. Lee was a much less exciting player but a very productive one and became known as a double-double machine. While the Knicks have seen much more success after their departures from New York they too are enjoying their current roles in the NBA.

Nate Robinson is a 5'9", 180 pound combo guard from Seattle, Washington. He was drafted out of the University of Washington with the 21st overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns. He was traded to the New York Knicks along with Quentin Richardson for Kurt Thomas and the draft rights to 54th overall pick. Robinson played for the Knicks from 2005-10, the Boston Celtics from 2010-11, the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011, the Golden State Warriors in 2012 and is currently a member of the Chicago Bulls.

He was a recipient of the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award in 2005 and is a three time NBA Slam Dunk Contest champion (2006, 2009, 2010).

David Lee is a 6'9", 250 pound power forward from St. Louis, Missouri. He was drafted out of Florida University with the 30th overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. He played for the Knicks from 2005-10 and has played for the Golden State Warriors since 2010.

He was named the 2001 Mr. Show-Me Basketball, the 2007 NBA Rookie Challenge MVP and has been a two time NBA All-Star (2010, 2013).

Both Robinson and Lee are beloved by Knicks fans because they were two of the few bright spots during a very dark period in the franchises history. However, eventually it was time for both them and the team to move on. Currently, Robinson finds himself on the defensive minded Chicago Bulls and Lee is entrenched as one of the leaders of the Golden State Warriors.

This last week has been particularly good to both of them. Robinson is an extremely streaky offensive player but there is no doubt that when he's on and hitting his shots that he is one of the more entertaining players the NBA has to offer.

Robinson finds himself in a perfect position for someone of his skill set. The Bulls are without their leader Derrick Rose and in need of offense. This past week Robinson was on his game. He averaged 17.8 points and 6.8 assists a game. As a result, he was named the Eastern Conference NBA Player of the week for last week.

Likewise, Lee was on fire last week as well. He averaged 18.0 points, 14.3 rebounds and 7.8 assists a game. So far on the season Lee has a total of 31 double-doubles and counting.

He leads the league in double-doubles. On top of being named an All-Star for the second time in his career Lee was also named the Western Conference NBA Player of the week for last week.

While most Knicks fans will agree that they don't want to see any former Knicks players perform well against the Knicks it is still nice to know that they are doing well with their new teams. It wasn't long ago that Robinson was rumored to be getting cut by Chicago or that Lee was called overrated. At least last week, there were few who performed better in the entire NBA.